In the grays of winter, the last stop on any subway line can have a
lonely, ominous feel. But when the new $530 million South Ferry station,
the terminus of the No. 1 train, opens in January, it will have some
added luminosity, thanks to a site-specific installation by the artists
Doug and Mike Starn. Commissioned by the Arts for Transit program of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority,
the installation, “See It Split, See It Change,” includes curved
floor-to-ceiling glass walls laced with silhouettes of trees, a marble
mosaic of a vintage topographic map of Manhattan, and other imagery
drawn from nearby Battery Park.

Although it is the first public artwork by the Starns, 47-year-old
identical twins who work in Brooklyn, they view it as integral to a
continuing project, “Structure of Thought,” rooted in their
preoccupation with time and natural bonds. “The tree series goes back
about 10 years,” Doug Starn said on a tour of the station last week.
“It’s about —— ”

“It’s about the conveyance of something,” Mike
Starn said. The brothers finish each other’s sentences as a matter of
course. “We saw the subway system as a conveyance, where connections are
made.”

“Tubes and things,” his brother added.

The work at
South Ferry, more than three years in the planning and execution, is
among the largest Arts for Transit has ever undertaken. And at more than
$1 million, it is the most expensive to date, said Sandra Bloodworth,
the program’s director, who said she hoped it would also be among the
most durable.

“We believe in building it for it to be there
forever, without any intervention by man,” Ms. Bloodworth said. The
South Ferry terminal, which is entirely new, was built beneath the
existing 103-year-old South Ferry station and financed mostly by the
federal government as part of a broader effort to rebuild Lower
Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the grays of winter, the last stop on any subway line can have a
lonely, ominous feel. But when the new $530 million South Ferry station,
the terminus of the No. 1 train, opens in January, it will have some
added luminosity, thanks to a site-specific installation by the artists
Doug and Mike Starn. Commissioned by the Arts for Transit program of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority,
the installation, “See It Split, See It Change,” includes curved
floor-to-ceiling glass walls laced with silhouettes of trees, a marble
mosaic of a vintage topographic map of Manhattan, and other imagery
drawn from nearby Battery Park.

Although it is the first public artwork by the Starns, 47-year-old
identical twins who work in Brooklyn, they view it as integral to a
continuing project, “Structure of Thought,” rooted in their
preoccupation with time and natural bonds. “The tree series goes back
about 10 years,” Doug Starn said on a tour of the station last week.
“It’s about —— ”

“It’s about the conveyance of something,” Mike
Starn said. The brothers finish each other’s sentences as a matter of
course. “We saw the subway system as a conveyance, where connections are
made.”

“Tubes and things,” his brother added.

The work at
South Ferry, more than three years in the planning and execution, is
among the largest Arts for Transit has ever undertaken. And at more than
$1 million, it is the most expensive to date, said Sandra Bloodworth,
the program’s director, who said she hoped it would also be among the
most durable.

“We believe in building it for it to be there
forever, without any intervention by man,” Ms. Bloodworth said. The
South Ferry terminal, which is entirely new, was built beneath the
existing 103-year-old South Ferry station and financed mostly by the
federal government as part of a broader effort to rebuild Lower
Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks.